A Cookie a Day
by RavenclawPride06
Summary: OneShot RedCricket ArchieXRuby. 'You made who cookies? Come on Ruby! I can keep this up all night' Belle said, sighing in an exaggerated fashion.


Based on a prompt for Red Cricket Week - Sunday July 14:

Archie is oblivious to love and Ruby thinks she is being ignored on purpose because Archie is really not into her.

Disclaimer: I don't own it.

* * *

Archie strides into the café, shaking his umbrella out behind him. He is on his way to work, and stopping at the diner is not something he does infrequently but today he has a specific purpose.

Ruby is behind the counter and as he approaches she gives him her signature flirtatious smile.

'Good morning, Ruby,'

'Hey, Archie, what can I do for you?'

'Is um… is your grandmother about?' Archie asks, looking around. Granny's is busy this morning, as it is most mornings, people coming in to grab a bite to eat or a quick coffee before they start work. The proprietor however, is nowhere to be seen.

'I think she's busy in the kitchen actually, I'll tell her you stopped in, can I give her a message?' Ruby asks, leaning forward slightly over the counter, lips parted.

'Yes, I suppose, thank her for the cookies she left for me yesterday, they were delicious. Do you have any idea why she left them for me?' He looked slightly confused, red eyebrows pulled down over his blue eyes.

'Left what for you, dear?' Archie turns to find Granny standing behind him, stack of empty cups in her hands. He takes them from her and places them on the counter in front of Ruby.

'Ah, granny,' he says turning back to her with a warm smile, 'the cookies you left for me, I wanted to thank you for them.'

'Well I don't know who left you the cookies, dear, but it certainly wasn't me,' Granny replied, looking perplexed.

'But- it was your recipe, I'd know Granny's cookies anywhere,' Archie said insistently.

'Well somebody obviously loves you,' Granny said, patting Archie on the arm before moving off to wipe down some abandoned tables nearby. Archie stands where he is, puzzled for a few seconds, scratching his head, offering Ruby a distracted smile and leaving the diner.

* * *

'Ruby, ruby, ruby, ruby…' Ruby opened the door to Belle's singing.

'Whoa!' Ruby said, shooting a grinning at her friend, 'Wait!' she said gripping Belle by the shoulders to stop her from spinning around the room, 'did you get some last night or somthin'?'

'Ruby!' Belle almost shrieked, 'can't a girl be happy without you twisting it into something else?'

Ruby breathes out a sigh, 'I'm just jealous, Belle,' Ruby says with a rueful smile. 'Why do I have to be into somebody that doesn't realise I exist?'

Belle stops still and peers at her friend, 'you like someone?' Belle asks cautiously sidling up to Ruby's side. 'You like someone and you didn't tell me? Who?' Belle demands, holding up a finger before rushing to the fridge and pulling out a bottle of white wine.

* * *

'I made him cookies.'

'You made who cookies? Come on Ruby! I can keep this up all night!' Belle said, sighing in an exaggerated fashion.

'Belle, I'm embarrassed enough as it is. He most definitely doesn't see me that way and if I tell you it'll only embarrass me further.'

'You don't even know that he's not into you, Red.'

'I think I've had enough experience to know when a man is into me Belle and Archie isn't,' Ruby immediately clapped a hand to her mouth; she never was very good at keeping her own secrets.

'Archie? Really? As in Dr. Hopper?' Belle looked gobsmacked, 'Not what I was expecting.' She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head to the side, a smile on her face. 'So what did he say about the cookies?'

'He's thought they were from Granny, and then he came to thank her for them. To top it off even when I flirted he paid more attention to her than me!' She pouted, Belle laughed at the look on her face.

'Ruby, you're being silly. He's just being respectful,' still giggling Belle topped off their wine glasses.

'You don't understand. I have never, in either life had to chase a guy. I'm aware how terrible that makes me sound but it was how Ruby lived her life and it was how I lived my life as Red before the curse.'

Belle puts a hand on Ruby's knee, 'Don't worry, Red,' she says quietly, 'these things have a way of working themselves out.'

* * *

Archie decides to take a wander over to the library on his lunch break. His next patient has cancelled and he is an avid reader who is almost out of reading material.

Opening the door he sees the brunette straightening some books on the shelves. He smiles and calls out: 'Good afternoon, Belle, how's the librarian life treating you?'

Belle strolls over to meet him, smiling.

'Afternoon Archie, it's going very well thank you. Anything I can help you with.'

'No, thank you, I'm just looking for some new material.'

Archie takes about twenty minutes to decide what he wants and Belle is waiting when he gets to the counter. As she scans and stamps she makes some more small talk, enquiring after Pongo, Marco and Pinocchio.

He is about to turn and leave when Belle stops him.

'Next time you run into Ruby, pay a little more attention to her.' She blurts out, not quite meaning too but glad that she'd said _something_.

'What do you mean?' Archie asked.

Belle refused to say anymore, leaving Archie to wonder what she meant.

* * *

After Belle's cryptic statement he decided to stop in at Granny's on his way home from work, hoping he could decipher the meaning. Spotting Ruby behind the counter, he perched on a barstool, watching as she bounded over to him, her smile a little brighter than before.

'Archie!' she greeted him warmly. He noted the way she twirled her hair as she pushed it back over her shoulder and the slight pink tinge to her cheeks.

Archie was good at reading people, after all, when he paid attention.

'Red, did you make the cookies?'

'Jiminy,' was all she said in reply, a smile spreading across her face.


End file.
